It’s so nice to have contractors that you can trust. For any heating question, I call up Chelsea’s Dad who owns PMG Mechanical (206) 624-5040. When we bought the house, I asked him to come over and inspect our equipment. He recommended replacing the water heater immediately and said the furnace would last us through the winter but not much more. These recommendations lined up directly with what we heard from our inspector.
We already added a new tankless water heater and this summer it was time to replace the furnace. Beyond the question of what kind of furnace we should install, we also wrestled with the question of whether or not we should add air conditioning to the house. That might sound crazy to friends and family east of here, but very few homes around here have AC. it’s a luxury because you really only need it maybe a week out of the year. Temps rarely get above 85 degrees so fans and open windows are almost always enough. But on the flip side, we’re hoping to be in this house for a long time, so if we’re going to do AC, now is the time when we can get maximum enjoyment out if it.
We ended up with a Carrier Infinity 80% efficient two stage furnace and a Carrier Infinity suitecase air conditioner. Brent recommended that we go with the 80% furnace over one of the high efficiency models because they just haven’t nailed the reliability of those models yet. The two stage furnace will give us a big boost because it only runs at partial power most of the time, but for the rare occasion when it gets really cold, the furnace kicks in full power. The fan is also incredibly efficient and costs almost nothing to run. The air conditioner is an extra small and quiet model that is normally installed in commercial locations where size and noise are a factor. In our case, it we only had about 5 feet to our property line and I wanted to still get yard waste bins and the lawn mower through. After it was installed, we still have 3 feet of clearance to the fence. It’s definitely a splurge but I’m betting we’ll think it was worth it as time goes on. Plus, we’ll be the party house when it’s hot outside! The final bit that we added to the bill was an electronic air cleaner. It increases air flow through the system, creates an allergy free environment, and is very easy to clean.
Thanks to Brent for getting this all installed for us! Normally when I do a job I call around to a bunch of different places and haggle for the best deal. It’s such a blessing to make one call and have it done!
For the first time in my life, I own dirt! Yard care is a chore for some people, but after years of living in apartments and the condo, I’m excited to have a chance at taking care of a yard. We’ll see long long that feeling lasts!
I’ve gotten a few questions about my theater room and how much it costs to put something like this together. I know it’s impolite to talk about stuff like this in public, but on the flip side, I also want to point out that this might not be nearly as expensive as you think. Plus when I was putting this together, it was very helpful to read through other people’s build list. So I’ll just list out all the gear that I used and you can click the links if you want to look into buying it for yourself. I did this almost as cheaply as I could except that I splurged and spent a couple hundred extra to get a slightly better projector that had a lot of lens shift. That makes it a lot easier to mount it wherever is convenient and adjust the lens to hit the screen. And I suppose you could save some more money if you go for a 720p projector instead of 1080p, but if you can afford it at all, go for 1080p. At this size of a screen, you’ll notice the difference.
My parents came out for a visit this past weekend. While they were here, I thought it would be fun to attempt some food in the 
As you may 
It’s going to take me a while to edit all the video so I thought I’d post some pictures. I tried to write useful titles and descriptions to help you understand what they are. They aren’t all in order since they are combined from three different cameras. The video will tell a better story, but these are some good point-in-time snapshots. You can find them all in the photo gallery under
25% Less Wise
My wisdom teeth are a mess. I started typing out the details in this post, but really it’s just gross. Suffice it to say that many dentists and oral surgeons have taken a peek inside my mouth but since I wasn’t having any pain at the time, they reluctantly decided to just leave well enough alone. One of them is starting to cause some trouble and thankfully it’s one that they think they can get out of my mouth so this morning I’m having done. The oral surgeon said he didn’t want to attempt it unless I was under full anesthesia and I happily agreed to that. Hopefully I’ll come out of the surgery with only a little pain and none of the nasty potential complications. I’ll be out of commission for a couple days though. Bring on the soft foods and video games!
Maybe Tyla will bring a video camera along in case I act like this kid:
PS. Happy Birthday Mom! I got you bloody tooth remnants.